TMSA Champion Mark Miller Provides Strategic Direction and Member Guidance

Mark Miller serves on the TMSA Board of Directors as a Member at Large and has been a member of the TMSA for more than 10 years. Miller brings exceptional perspective and member guidance to the TMSA through his experience spanning 23 years of diverse marketing work with Crowley Maritime and over thirty years serving the transportation industry.  

Mark Miller, Vice President, Corporate & Marketing Communications, Crowley Maritime 

Based out of Jacksonville, Miller is a 30-year veteran of the transportation industry, with 23 of those years spent developing his career at Crowley Maritime. Currently serving as a TMSA Board Member at Large, Miller has been a key part of the TMSA for more than 10 years. Like so many members of the TMSA, Miller holds a diverse role within an even more diverse organization, leading Crowley’s small, yet very adept Corporate and Marketing Communications team. Looking back, Miller’s career has seen many milestones including a Crowley subsidiary’s salvage of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in Italy – the largest, most technically challenging marine salvage in history – which drew worldwide coverage for his organization.

As a key member of the TMSA Board of Directors, Miller has had his share of experience with the TMSA including work on the Communications Committee and assistance with the rebranding of the TMSA itself. It’s through this active volunteer work that he’s able to bring his communications strength to the table to help the organization. He also cherishes the opportunity the TMSA offers to help him guide new members. Speaking as a veteran of the industry, Miller notes that it takes a long time to learn the transportation and logistics industries, and even more time keeping up with the latest ways to market those activities. TMSA makes a huge difference in helping its new members with this effort. His greatest advice to new and existing members is to enhance their learning through all the TMSA can offer including the directories, website and conference, and simply talking to and learning from other members. He says there has never been a TMSA conference or seminar he attended where he didn’t come away with some insight, or idea, that he could bring back to his company and team.

As Miller notes, “The key to the TMSA, is that you only get of out of it what you put into it. Talking to forward thinking people can be invaluable to understand other people’s pain points and solving your own as a result. They have the same challenges. Talking to them to understand how they solved a problem and apply their learnings to your own is critical.”

During a recent interview, Miller shares some a bit of insight into himself through a little-known. In particular, he notes that people are surprised to know that years ago he and his Border Collie Boomer did Frisbee Dog competitions around the United States. He and Boomer ranked 10th in the world when they completed the Frisbee Dog World Championship on the mall in Washington, DC, near the Washington Monument. Competitions and shows include  choreographed throw-and-catch routines set to music featuring  launches, flips and spectacular catches. Mark and Boomer also appeared on Nickelodeon, a Jacksonville Jaguars football game, University of Florida football and basketball games, and on several broadcasts of the  Purina Incredible Dog Challenge, the last of which was filmed at Liberty Park in August 2001. While Miller is still a dog guy with a couple of backyard Frisbee dogs at home, he’s no longer competing. 

By Jen McQuiston, Director, Business Development, TMW Systems